What Is the Difference Between a Meteor and a Meteorite?

Meteoroids are small rocky or metallic bodies (typically from asteroids or comets) orbiting the Sun. When a meteoroid enters Earth atmosphere at high speed (11-72 km/s), friction with air molecules heats its surface to incandescence, producing a bright streak called a meteor (or "shooting star"). Most meteors vaporise completely 80-120 km above the surface. If a fragment survives the fiery passage and lands on Earth, it becomes a meteorite. About 48.5 tonnes of meteoritic material falls on Earth daily, but most is dust-sized. Large meteorites are rare: the Hoba meteorite in Namibia (60 tonnes) is the largest single meteorite ever found.